Beginning JavaServer Pages™

Chapter 1. Getting Started with JavaServer Pages

JavaServer Pages (JSP) is a Java-based technology that is run on a server to facilitate the processing of Web-based requests. Many of the Web sites that you visit daily may be using JSP to format and display the data that you see. This chapter reveals what JSP is, how it works, and why it is important.

The evolution of request processing using Java-based server logic is also presented in this chapter. JSP plays a vital role in this evolution. This role, along with how JSP assists in Web request processing, will be discussed. This overview serves as a foundation upon which to build new JSP concepts and to introduce new JSP features in later chapters.

Every chapter in this book contains hands-on JSP coding examples. Starting from this very first chapter you will be working immediately with JSP coding. This chapter shows in detail how to set up JSP code on your own Windows-based PC or Linux/UNIX workstation.

In particular, this chapter:

• Provides a historical review of the Web technology evolution that leads to JSP

• Discusses why JSP is needed

• Reveals how JSP works

• Shows where to download chapter code examples and the JSP Project examples

• Shows where to download a server for executing JSP code on your PC or workstation

• Reveals how to set up the open-source Tomcat server for running your JSP code

Creating Applications for the Internet

Before looking at a server that supports JSP, think of what happens under the hood when you use your browser to access ...